Spring Vote To Decide Plans` Fate

November 3, 1985|By Gary Enos, Staff Writer

CORAL SPRINGS — For voters in Tuesday`s citywide referendum, the question is simple: Is $16 million in improvements to the city`s recreation and public safety facilities worth an average property tax increase of $75 a year?

As Election Day approaches, a group of weary citizens and city officials hope they have persuaded residents to vote themselves a tax increase in exchange for a new park, a multipurpose community center and expansion for the police and fire departments.

``We`ve educated the people who will be touched by this,`` said City Commissioner Jim Gordon. ``We`ve proven to the people that these improvements are necessary.``

Voters will be asked Tuesday to consider two separate sets of general obligation bonds: $10.9 million for recreational facilities and $5.1 million for three public safety projects. There are no candidate elections on Tuesday`s ballot.

The recreation package includes:

(BU) $5.1 million for the completion of Cypress Park, a 42-acre parcel at Coral Springs and Lakeview drives.

Cypress Park is included in the city`s comprehensive plan, adopted in 1978, as one of three anticipated community parks in the city. Officials hope the completion of Cypress Park by 1987 will help relieve overcrowding at Mullins Park, now the city`s only full-service park.

Proposed facilities at Cypress Park include four multipurpose athletic fields, a 3-acre picnic area and a municipal swimming pool. Organizers of the city`s youth athletic programs have been the loudest advocates of this ballot item.

``When you have a waiting list for soccer associations that is as long as your arm, it creates a lot of pressure and worry,`` said Buz Eddy, administrative assistant in the city manager`s office.

(BU) $5.2 million to construct a multipurpose community center at Mullins Park, a 50,000-square-foot building that would serve as the city`s headquarters for artistic, civic and indoor athletic activities.

Civic groups and the city`s small but vocal senior citizen population have rallied behind the community center, saying that their growing city lacks sufficient meeting space for events.

City leaders say the community building would have space for a gymnasium, a performance stage, an exhibit hall and several meeting rooms.

But Commissioner Helen Tache, while acknowledging the need for meeting space, said the city should perhaps devote the facility to fewer types of events.

``I cannot see having a combination of everything in a multipurpose building,`` she said.

(BU) The remainder of the $10.9 million would be available to absorb the cost of selling the recreation bonds.

The $5.1 million public safety package, minus the bond negotiation fees, is made up of:

(BU) A $3.7 million expansion of the public safety building on Coral Springs Drive. Officials expect to add two floors to the building, which was completed in 1981.

A $1.5 million bond issue to construct the first phase of the public safety building was defeated by 17 votes in the spring of 1978, but was approved in a second referendum later that year.

Officials cite increased demands on the police department, due to the city`s growth, as the reason for the proposed expansion.

(BU) $660,000 to install a new police communications system at the public safety complex. The current communications system, acquired in 1978, would be available for use by other city departments as needed.

(BU) $600,000 for a new fire station at Wiles and Rock Island roads. The station would replace a facility on Northwest 85th Avenue, in the city`s Utilities Department complex.

City officials say the new location would make it easier for the city to serve the booming residential area north of Wiles Road.

Gordon said it may be more difficult to pass the public safety items because the recreation package has more ``sizzle,`` or overall appeal to residents.

The 30-year bonds would be paid for through a tax increase to be introduced in 1986. Officials say the increase will not exceed $1 per $1,000 of assessed property value, meaning that the owner of a $100,000 home would pay about $75 more per year in taxes after a $25,000 homestead exemption.

Tuesday`s vote culminates an effort that began in 1983 when the City Commission summoned a group of citizens to assess the city`s capital needs for the remainder of the century.

Several members of the 2000 Committee have again joined forces, as the Committee to Make the Best Better, a group that for the last six weeks has conducted a nightly schedule of information sessions with civic groups.

Committee members hope residents will perceive their effort as a grassroots movement. Still, only about 10 percent of the city`s 25,015 registered voters are expected to go to the polls Tuesday.

Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Voting information will be available by calling the Broward County Supervisor of Elections at 357-7050 or Coral Springs City Hall at 752-3410.

RECENT REFERENDUMS

Here`s how west Broward voters have reacted to referendums similar to Tuesday`s vote in Coral Springs:

MARCH 1978: Coral Springs voters rejected by 17 votes a $1.5 million bond issue to build the first phase of the public safety building on Coral Springs Drive. The $1.5 million was approved in a second vote eight months later.

OCTOBER 1979: Tamarac voters approved by an 8-1 margin the sale of $15 million in bonds to purchase Tamarac Utilities Inc.

MARCH 1980: About 6,400 voters in Pembroke Pines cast votes in a referendum on $1.6 million for recreation bonds to finance a community center, bicycle paths and ball fields. The bonds were rejected by a margin of fewer than 300 votes.

NOVEMBER 1983: Cooper City voters allowed the city to borrow $650,000 for a community center at Southwest 90th Avenue and 50th Place.